This Week in Sports - Week #36

Middle School Track Badgers Break the Tape at the Ragged Mountain Championships!
It's been eight weeks since he took the line for the first time in the 400 meters, and throughout the duration in between, Grayson has worked diligently on his knee drive, efficiency and stride turnover. This afternoon, Grayson took on the toughest competition Central Virginia has to offer. The meet featured nearly thirty teams and a large crowd at a big time venue - the University of Virginia. When the gun sounded, Grayson's reaction time was elite - he immediately began to cut in towards lane one. Once he settled into position, there were 15 athletes chasing him down - and only one ahead of him. As he made his way around the 200 meter mark, Grayson's stride length increased as he made an aggressive move - blitzing around his last remaining opponent and taking the lead. With a chorus of Tandem families and friends cheering his name, Grayson broke the tape - taking home victory in his heat of the 400 meters - and a three second Personal Record!
 
The Tandem 8th Graders have had the luxury of training with, and competing against, more experienced athletes. They have pushed themselves for three months - finding another gear during interval workouts, long runs, or core body strengthening. Today, for the first time this season, they got to take on their age group peers - and proved to be up to the task - dashing past middle school competition from all over Central Virginia.
 
This wonderful group of 8th Graders has established great routines - ranging from their sing-alongs on the bus ride (and they were HOT-TO-GO on the track today) to their focus during the warm up. As a result, when the meet began, our Badgers were locked in, focused and ready - a balance of nervous and confident - and it was impressive to watch!
The action began with the 100 meters... and similar to the way Rey flies between classes across the quad, he absolutely dominated not only his heat of the 100 meters, but the entire field of ONE HUNDRED athletes. Rey finished with a super quick time of 12.8 - and was 5th out of 100 runners! Later in the meet, he DID IT AGAIN in the 200, running 26.5 and finishing 5th overall - for the second time in as many events! Nico earned TWO new PRs (14.04 in the 100 and 31.4 in the 200) with excellent finishes, and Levie (14.21) continued to show off his quick turnover in his heat! Riley (15.9) and Muriel (16.3) each ran PR's as they blazed around their competition in the 100 Meters!
 
Eloise wisely settled in with the top runners of a deep girls 1600 meter field on the backstretch of her first lap. She came through the 400 meter mark in a blazing 1:28, picking up steam. On the backstretch, she passed an entire pack, moving quickly into the top ten. Eloise hit the halfway point on pace for a massive PR, increased her turnover, and left a few more runners in her dust. Eloise finished in an incredible time of 6:06 - exceptional at the middle school level. Eloise was 8th overall with a 19 second PR!! Can't wait to see what she does at states tomorrow!
 
Bela (5:41) had a goal of breaking 5:50 - and he crushed it! His pace in the race is considerably faster than what he ran in Cross Country, a tribute to the hard work he has put in throughout the season. Bela finished 10th out of 54 runners! Daniel ran his first lap with a true fervor - 1:20 - and continued to push throughout the race! He brought it home in a PR of 6:42 - crushing his goal of 7:00! In the 800, Malena earned her way into the first heat - and she ran an even, steady, confident race - and a new PR of 3:04! What a season of distance prowess for Malena!
 
In the 400 meters, Peter left it all on the track - cranking out a new PR of 1:06 - and winning his heat in an epic wire to wire race! Lennon, also having his best performance of the year, was in attack mode. He had a strong start and never let up, earning a five second PR of 1:11!  
 
In the final race of the day, our four Middle School Girls worked together to achieve great success! They spent ages practicing their baton passes, and when the big moment came, Malena confidently took the baton for the first leg of the 4x400 meter relay. Fighting for space, she put her team in a great position as she made a smooth baton pass to Riley! Running the event for the first time, Riley showed excellent strength, power and patience - she was consistent and steady for the first 200 and then showed off a big sprint for the final 200 meters - opening her stride and getting that baton to Muriel. Truly competing, Muriel passed runners right from the start - and again on the back stretch - and in the final fifty meters when she was not sure she could do it she did it again!  Well done, Muriel! Heloise served as the anchor leg - and she picked up right where she left off in the 1600 - fast and aggressive, as the Badgers finished strong - earning their best 4x400 time of the season - 5:40! The 4x400 boys were rearing to go, but thunder ended the meet a little early - I have no doubt that they would've won!
 
Congratulations to this exceptional group of hard working athletes - today's Ragged Mountain Middle School Championships was an exciting ending to what has been an incredible season of growth. Each of these athletes have become stronger, faster and more confident - and I am incredibly proud of you all! We had lots of fun - in practice, during meets and on the bus - and I look forward to seeing what you all do at the next level!
 
Thanks to the families for all of your support - it made a big difference on the track today - and throughout the season! 
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Tandem Friends School is a co-ed Quaker day school for grades 5-12 in Charlottesville, Virginia.
 
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